BLUETONGUE VACCINATI Report Summary

An established lab colony of a potential European BTV vector, C. nubeculosus, has been upgraded & is being maintained at high productivity

During the course of this project a small laboratory stock of the European potential BTV vector, Culicoides nubeculosus, was upgraded to a maximum weekly production level of some 5,000 flies. This allowed several commercially available live vaccine viruses to be tested for ability to infect, replicate in and be transmitted by vector Culicoides species. It also allowed vaccine viruses, subsequent to their passage through vector Culicoides, to be tested for evidence of increasing virulence in sheep.

The existence of laboratory colonies of vector species of Culicoides allows experiments involving all aspects of virus-vector interactions to be carried out throughout the year (even in the winter) and in countries where wild vector populations are absent, difficult to acquire and manipulate, or unknown.